Insight Landing on Mars Monday

So much political back and fourth on ATS these days. I need a break! How about you, ATS? Yes? Good! Well, here's a interesting update from Mars
where the Insight Lander is set to land on Monday. The exciting thing about this lander is not just that it will probe deep into MArs's interior but
that it's equipped with two Cubesats nicknamed Wall-E and Eve which are names based off the movie Wall-E, and these 2 Cubesats will relay info back
to NASA at almost real-time so that scientists will be able to see its descent almost as it happens. There will be a delay of about 9 minutes however
this is much better than the current wait time of an hour or so.

These new Cubesats are part of the MArco project at JPL.

One way engineers may be able to confirm quickly what activities InSight has completed during those seven minutes of terror is if the
experimental CubeSat mission known as Mars Cube One (MarCO) relays InSight data back to Earth in near-real time during their flyby on Nov. 26. The two
MarCO spacecraft (A and B) are making good progress toward their rendezvous point, and their radios have already passed their first deep-space
tests.

"Just by surviving the trip so far, the two MarCO satellites have made a giant leap for CubeSats," said Anne Marinan, a MarCO systems engineer based
at JPL. "And now we are gearing up for the MarCOs' next test — serving as a possible model for a new kind of interplanetary communications
relay."

"Landing on Mars is exciting, but scientists are looking forward to the time after InSight lands," said Lori Glaze, acting director of the Planetary
Science Division at NASA Headquarters. "Once InSight is settled on the Red Planet and its instruments are deployed, it will start collecting valuable
information about the structure of Mars' deep interior — information that will help us understand the formation and evolution of all rocky planets,
including the one we call home."

Insight will land in the Elysium Planitia region of Mars to do its work in the deep interior of Mars but even more exciting to me is the immense
potential for Cubesats to change the game for Space exploration and eventual colonization. So, what does ATS think? Excited for this landing?

Have always been intrigue with Mars and its potential for a base there. Loved checking out the pictures on line of the rovers, would spend hours
looking at them and wondering... Still think any legitimate colonization or permanent base on Mars starts with learning how to set one up on the moon.
Unfortunately then you get into funding such an expensive project and making it efficient and sustainable. I know plenty of people are against it but
its going to have to be profitable or at least be able to get tangible returns on the investment. Development of new tech,mining of minerals could
partially achieve this as well as enlist corporate backing needed. Like helium 3 for example

CubeSats are a class of spacecraft based on a standardized small size and modular use of off-the-shelf technologies. Many have been made by university
students, and hundreds have been launched into Earth orbit using extra payload mass available on launches of larger spacecraft.

The basic CubeSat unit is a box roughly 4 inches (10 centimeters) square. Larger CubeSats are multiples of that unit. MarCO's design is a six-unit
CubeSat. Each of the two spacecraft has a stowed size of about 14.4 inches (36.6 centimeters) by 9.5 inches (24.3 centimeters) by 4.6 inches (11.8
centimeters).

The spring-loaded CubeSat deployment system for MarCO is on the aft bulkhead carrier of the Centaur upper stage of InSight's Atlas V launch vehicle.
That is near the base of the Centaur, not inside the fairing that encloses the main spacecraft. At launch and until the Centaur upper stage separates
from the first stage of the Atlas V, the aft bulkhead carrier is sheltered within an inter-stage adaptor between the launch vehicle and the second, or
upper, stages.

After the Centaur upper stage has released the InSight spacecraft on course toward Mars, it will do a short roll, then release MarCO-A, roll 180
degrees further and release MarCO-B.

MarCO, the experimental pair of CubeSats, could relay back a first image just after the entry, descent and landing phase. If this happens, the image
(or partial image) could be available within 10 to 20 minutes of touchdown.

MRO could -- but is unlikely to -- relay back an image. MRO will prioritize relaying engineering data as it is setting over the Martian horizon. An
image received via MRO wouldn’t be ready until late afternoon.

Odyssey could -- but is also unlikely to -- relay back images during its first pass, which occurs several hours after InSight lands. At that time, it
will receive a recording of the EDL data from InSight. It may not be able to transmit image data before it passes over the horizon; if it did, it
would be available in the early evening. Odyssey will also pass over InSight the day after landing between 6 and 8 a.m. PST (9 and 11 a.m. EST)
[14:00 and 16:00 UTC] on Nov. 27.

Most all the info you could want about the landing is supplied by Emily Lakdawalla
here.

CubeSats are a class of spacecraft based on a standardized small size and modular use of off-the-shelf technologies. Many have been made by university
students, and hundreds have been launched into Earth orbit using extra payload mass available on launches of larger spacecraft.

The basic CubeSat unit is a box roughly 4 inches (10 centimeters) square. Larger CubeSats are multiples of that unit. MarCO's design is a six-unit
CubeSat. Each of the two spacecraft has a stowed size of about 14.4 inches (36.6 centimeters) by 9.5 inches (24.3 centimeters) by 4.6 inches (11.8
centimeters).

The spring-loaded CubeSat deployment system for MarCO is on the aft bulkhead carrier of the Centaur upper stage of InSight's Atlas V launch vehicle.
That is near the base of the Centaur, not inside the fairing that encloses the main spacecraft. At launch and until the Centaur upper stage separates
from the first stage of the Atlas V, the aft bulkhead carrier is sheltered within an inter-stage adaptor between the launch vehicle and the second, or
upper, stages.

After the Centaur upper stage has released the InSight spacecraft on course toward Mars, it will do a short roll, then release MarCO-A, roll 180
degrees further and release MarCO-B.

My daughter works for L.M. Space and has been involved in this project. We discussed it some this morning when I talked to her. It's quite exciting to
get things straight from the horse's mouth as it were.

InSight has sent its first picture of its new home back to its old home.

The Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC), located on the robotic arm of NASA's InSight lander, took this picture of the Martian surface on Nov. 26,
2018, the same day the spacecraft touched down on the Red Planet. The camera's transparent dust cover is still on in this image, to prevent
particulates kicked up during landing from settling on the camera's lens. mars.nasa.gov...

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